Ken Cuccinelli

What is the tea party’s future in Rhode Island Republican politics? RIPR political analyst Scott MacKay talks tea with the two announced GOP candidates for governor.

In April, 2010, at the height of the tea party insurgency, then-Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri addressed a boisterous rally on the south steps of the Statehouse. To 500 or so tea party activists, Carcieri bellowed, ``I love the tea party, I love the tea party.’’

The Washington Post has the story on how Rhode Island's Joseph Caramadre case has reverberated in the Virginia governor's race. The story, by Post reporter Laura Vozzella, describes how ``a dying mechanic wanted a few thousand dollars to leave to his wife, two sons and infant daughter. A politically connected millionaire, now running for Virginia governor, wanted to make some money. And a Rhode Island estate planner wantd to become ambassador to the Vatican.

``All three came together in late 2006 in a deal struck just two months before the 44-year old mechanic died of cancer.''